1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for planning a plurality of individual digital images to be printed on a roll of media, the method comprising the step of constructing a composed digital image representing the roll and comprising a plurality of representations of the individual digital images to be printed on the roll in a sequence order corresponding to the time sequence order of printing the plurality of individual digital images on the roll.
2. Description of Background Art
Nowadays printing systems are available for printing images consuming consumables like toner, ink, paper or other media. Printing systems for printing images on a roll usually have a planning system comprising a print queue of print jobs. However, the operator has no clear overview on when to plan intervention on reloading consumables. Therefore he has to check the status of the printing system very often. The operator also has no clear overview of how to optimize the printer usage depending on the jobs. Such an overview is necessary when overnight printing is unattended.
A preview of an image to be printed may be provided via a printer driver. However, the operator also has no clear overview of how to make sure that print jobs are actually printed at the right time, for example if there is a deadline for a specific print job. When a printing system is capable of printing at different print velocities, planning in time becomes more difficult. Furthermore, changing of a roll depends on how many print jobs can be planned for a certain roll of media.
The term print velocity for an individual digital image to be printed on the roll is defined as the distance of the printed image on the roll in the length direction of the roll on which the individual digital image is going to be printed divided by the total time it takes from the beginning of the printing of the individual digital image to the completion of the printing of the individual digital image.
The print velocity as defined here-above is determined by the velocity of the media unwound from the roll along the print head of the printing system. The print velocity may also be determined by the jet frequency of recording material in case of an inkjet printing system. If the printing system is a multi-pass printing system, the print velocity is also dependent on the number of passes to cover part of the media. A printing system capable of printing images at a plurality of print velocities may be envisioned when print strategies based on a different number of passes is applied to the printing process.
The print velocity at which an individual digital image is going to be printed may be derived from print job specifications of a print job to which the individual digital image belongs, like a print mode setting, or from a property of the individual digital image like black-and-white print mode, a color print mode, a full color print mode, a CAD/GIS print mode, etc.
When print jobs are printed on a roll and the roll has been fully printed and wrapped up, it is difficult for the operator to have an overview of the images which have been printed on the roll.